The ultimate goal for Cameron County Democratic Party Chair Sylvia Garza-Perez is to help turn Texas into a blue, or democratic state.
However, while she works to help accomplish that, here at home one of the immediate changes she’s encouraging county commissioner to make is switch to electronic voting.
"I don’t think that people really need to have a tangible document - but it's with everything there’s always resistance to change,” Garza-Perez said. “But we can't, at this day in age, be behind."
It took Cameron County elections workers over six hours to count each of the more than 76,000 votes. Elections Administrator Roger Ortiz said not having electronic voting slows the counting process, and although this was his last election, he's encouraging commissioners to approve funding for electronic voting.
"As an administrator, I would love to have an electronic system,” Ortiz said. “But on the other hand, you think about the commissioners and what they would like to see. I think the candidates do prefer a system such as what we have."
Ortiz adds he believes voting will eventually go electronic.
"Yes, Hidalgo County is way ahead of us, but I really think that yes, we need to emphasize and start moving forward utilizing technology," Garza-Perez added.
The Cameron County Elections Commission is also considering using mobile voting units in future elections.
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